Roja Dove — Parfum De La Nuit No 2
Essence
Parfum De La Nuit No 2 (2015) is “The Seducer” of Roja’s original Prestige trilogy - a boozy-gourmand oriental built around rum, with cocoa, tolu balsam, benzoin, vanilla, and tonka in the base, and a quiet thread of civet and castoreum tying it to its trilogy siblings. Roja Dove called it “the master of seduction.” What sets it apart in his catalog is its unusual rum-cocoa structure, closer in spirit to By Kilian’s Angels’ Share or Roja’s own Sweetie Aoud than to anything else in the Prestige line, with an unmistakable Coca-Cola-meets-cigar-lounge feel.
Scent Profile
The first ten to twenty minutes open with a fizzy citrus trio - orange, bergamot, lemon - the orange being the most distinctive, sweeter and rounder than the usual Roja bergamot opening. Rum surfaces almost immediately, giving the citrus a cocktail-glass aspect, and within ten to fifteen minutes the whole thing reads as alcoholic-citrus over warm balsam. In the heart, from about one to three hours, rum is unmistakably the lead - a dark, slightly bitter, lightly spiced sipping rum rather than a daiquiri - woven together with cocoa that is more cocoa-powder than chocolate, slightly bitter and slightly dusty. That cocoa is the most-debated element: some wearers call it the signature, others catch only a faint dusting. A creamy coconut texture rounds things out without ever reading as a beach note. The animalic murmur of civet and castoreum that defines No 1 is here too, but much quieter, which is exactly what makes No 2 the most versatile of the three. From three hours on, the base comes forward: tolu balsam and benzoin build a warm, sweet-resinous bed, tonka deepens the vanilla, and labdanum lends the family-resemblance leathery amber, while patchouli and vetiver add earthy structure. The cocoa drifts in and out. The arc is more linear than evolving - once the rum-cocoa-vanilla signature sets around hour two, it holds with only minor shifts and a tobacco-adjacent dryness from the way cocoa meets papyrus.
Performance
Projection is strong for the first three hours and moderate thereafter, with sillage that fills a small room early on. Longevity runs ten to fourteen hours on skin and two to four days on clothing. Heat intensifies the rum and cocoa, so apply more sparingly when it is warm; cold weather is where it settles into its proper register, making this a fall-winter scent. Humidity helps, while dry air can make the cocoa read flat. Two sprays to the chest and inner collar is the sweet spot - the boozy register can turn cloying in tight spaces if you overspray.
Wearing Context
This is an autumn-and-winter, almost exclusively evening fragrance - cigar lounges, late-night cocktail bars, formal dinners, candlelit rooms, and as a cold-weather comfort scent at home. It falls flat in the office, in casual daytime wear, and outdoors in summer, where the cocoa-rum register can read as strange. It is the most versatile of the three because it lacks the predatory animalic of No 1 and the dry leather of No 3, wearing much the same on women and men. Roja’s “date perfume” framing is accurate: this is built for getting close to someone in a candlelit room.
Comparisons & DNA
Within Roja’s catalog, No 2 is closest to Sweetie Aoud and its patisserie-amber-cocoa DNA, then Enigma’s tobacco-amber register, and more distantly the romantic gourmand-floral of Amore Mio. Outside the house, By Kilian Angels’ Share is the most common comparison for the rum-amber-cognac register; Maison Francis Kurkdjian Grand Soir is closer in mood than in notes; Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille shares the sweet-resinous DNA; and Xerjoff Naxos sits in adjacent rum-honey territory. Roja’s own Enigma Pour Homme overlaps in tobacco-amber, and one wearer described No 2 as “Enigma-style cola scent on top of an intense oriental-resinous structure with some animalic edges.” No widely recognized budget clone exists; the closest cheap approximation is layering a rum-amber gourmand over a labdanum-tonka base, which never quite lands.
Reception
This is the most divided of the three. Admirers call it the perfect date perfume and boozy luxury done right; critics call it cough syrup and root beer, or Coca-Cola with a cigar. The split is over whether the cocoa-rum gesture reads as sophisticated or kitschy, and the price draws near-universal complaint on top of that. It is also the most thinly reviewed of the trilogy by the established critics, who covered No 1 and No 3 but passed over No 2. Roja’s own framing remains the clearest editorial statement: “Soft, warm and tantalising, this fragrance revels in the power of suggestion.” Because the central gesture polarizes so sharply, sampling first is essential and a blind buy is hard to recommend.
Versions & Reformulation
Parfum De La Nuit No 2 was discontinued in 2024-2025 alongside No 1, leaving only No 3’s composition to continue under the streamlined “Parfum De La Nuit” name. The original 2015 release is now legacy stock, and no major reformulation was announced during its production run.
Acquisition Notes
Historic retail sat in Roja’s Prestige tier, around 1,330 to 1,400 USD for 100ml Parfum. Now discontinued, sealed bottles command a premium on the secondary market, and decants are available in 2ml to 10ml sizes. Buy authenticated stock from established sellers and verify before purchase.
Notable Facts & Lore
- Roja Dove’s stated intent for No 2 was explicit: “Soft, warm and tantalising, this fragrance revels in the power of suggestion.
- The warmth of a touch, the excitement of a quick glance, No 2 is the master of seduction.”
- A Roja representative has explained that labdanum amber unifies the trilogy, with Dove envisioning “the amber color of the sky just as the sun sets as the aura around each perfume.”
- The trilogy itself was framed as three odes to “bed-related amorous activities,” under the tagline “Desire calls when darkness falls.”
- There was no celebrity tie-in.
- The most persistent debate around No 2 is its price-to-versatility ratio: at this cost, a gourmand-cocktail register is harder to justify than the more universally celebrated leather of No 1 or rose of No 3, and more than a few wearers have admitted regret over a full-bottle purchase.